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Sport Diver Awards 2016: Vote now to win $3,000 holiday voucher
Sport Diver and Wakatobi Dive Resort are once again offering you the opportunity to vote in the annual Sport Diver Awards and be in with a chance of winning a $3,000 dive holiday voucher.

To vote for Holt Diving as best retailer visit www.sportdiver.co.uk/vote to cast your ballot. And who knows, you could be on your way to Indonesia before you know it.

Following on from last 2015’s success, this year’s gala event will once again be open to the public and will take place on the Saturday of the Birmingham Dive Show weekend. With food, drink and celebrity speakers – as well as the chance to see if your favourite people and products win their respective categories – the evening promises to be great fun for all. For more information or to book, call 0118 974 2510.

Modern scuba diving gear consists of one or more gas tanks strapped to the divers back, connected to an air hose and an invention called the demand regulator. The demand regulator controls the flow of air, so that the air pressure within the diver’s lungs equals the pressure of the water.

Early Diving Gear

Ancient swimmers used cut hollow reeds to breathe air, the first rudimentary snorkel used to enhance our abilities underwater. Around 1300, Persian divers were making rudimentary eye goggles from the thinly sliced and polished shells of tortoises. By the 16th century, wooden barrels were used as primitive diving bells, and for the first time divers could travel underwater with more than one breath of air, but not much more than one.

More Than One Breath

In 1771, British engineer, John Smeaton invented the air pump. A hose was connected between the air pump and the diving barrel, allowing air to be pumped to the diver. In 1772, Frenchmen, Sieur Freminet invented a rebreathing device that recycled the exhaled air from inside of the barrel, this was the first self-contained air device. Freminet’s invention was a poor one, the inventor died from lack of oxygen after being in his own device for twenty minutes.

In 1825, English inventor, William James designed another self-contained breather, a cylindrical iron “belt” attached to a copper helmet. The belt held about 450 psi of air, enough for a seven-minute dive.

In 1876, Englishmen, Henry Fleuss invented a closed circuit, oxygen rebreather. His invention was originally intended to be used in the repair of an iron door of a flooded ship’s chamber. Fleuss then decided to use his invention for a thirty-foot deep dive underwater. He died from the pure oxygen; oxygen is toxic to humans under pressure.

Rigid Diving Suits

In 1873, Benoît Rouquayrol and Auguste Denayrouze built a new piece of equipment a rigid diving suit with a safer air supply, however it weighed about 200 pounds.

Houdini Suit – 1921

Famous magician and escape artist, Harry Houdini (born Ehrich Weiss in Budapest, Hungary in 1874) was also an inventor. Harry Houdini astonished audiences by escaping from handcuffs, straitjackets, and locked boxes, often doing so underwater. Houdini’s invention for a diver’s suit permitted divers, in case of danger, to quickly divest themselves of the suit while submerged and to safely escape and reach the surface of the water.

Jacques Cousteau & Emile Gagnan

Emile Gagnan and Jacques Cousteau co-invented the modern demand regulator and an improved autonomous diving suit. In 1942, the team redesigned a car regulator and invented a demand regulator that would automatically fresh air when a diver breathed. A year later in 1943, Cousteau and Gagnan began selling the Aqua-Lung.

Now this is not your average product review and when we first saw it we knew that we had to share it with the world 🙂

Finally – the proof I need – Oswaldo – 07/31/2015
I had always been highly suspicious of my local ‘chippy’ On many an occasion the battered cod that I had ordered had a funny taste – when I questioned it, the shop owner, Mrs Gretoli, assured me that it was prime cod caught in British waters. I decided that enough was enough and decided to take matters into my own hands by purchasing one of these slates. Firstly, let me say that the service from Holt diving was superb and cannot be faulted in anyway. The item arrived promptly and was wrapped in protective bubble-wrap. The slate and service was everything I had hoped for and so much more. Now, back to my story…That very night I once again purchased Cod and Chips from Mrs Gretoli’s chippy. I asked if it was definitely cod, and when she answered “yes” I gave her a wry smile and a wink of the eye as I hastily took my goods. The chart I had ordered was small enough for me to take in the car and as soon as I got in it I unwrapped my Friday night’s supper with one hand and the I.D chart in the other.Carefully pulling at the hot, golden batter until the flesh was exposed, I held the chart close to the steaming fish. I scanned the I.D chart going down in order.. Wolf Eel..no, Red Gurnard..no, Rockling..no until I reached cod.Damn it! She was right..it was cod! A prefect match. I had been wrong all this time! Well what do you know?!So thanks Holt diving for helping me with this! I will now write Mrs Gretoli a full and frank apology.

Recently Bite-Back Shark and Marine Conservation launched a campaign to end the personal importation of shark fins to Europe. The charity’s No Fin To Declare campaign is challenging the EU law that allows individuals travelling to Europe to carry 20kg of dried shark fins—enough to make 705 bowls of shark fin soup.

The personal import legislation is best known as the law that stops passengers on long-haul flights from bringing dried meats, dairy products or more than one litre of spirits and 200 cigarettes to the UK.

Investigations by the charity suggest that shark fins arriving in the UK via this loophole are then sold on the black market to the restaurant trade for around £175 per kilo, or roughly £3,500 per suitcase.

Shark fins are one of the most expensive fish products in the world and their high value is the biggest incentive for 125 nations to fish for sharks. Since the fins are worth more than the meat, many sharks suffer the cruel practice of ‘finning’ at sea when the dorsal and pectoral fins are hacked off and the body thrown back in to the sea, still alive.

Relentless fishing for sharks recently prompted the International Union for Conservation of Nature declare that 25% of all shark species are now threatened with extinction.

This Aropec Duffel bag is heavy duty and easy to use, It has a extendible handle to suit and height diver,

It has a hard base to maintain the shape while wheeling so it doesn’t flap around like some roller bags do, The hard base also helps towards protecting your gear during transit,

There is lots of space in the main compartment and it also has a zipper pocket either side, The zippers are corrosion proof so you don’t need to worry about it getting ruined by the sea air during your dive trip,

I used to use a standard duffel bag for my diving gear but it didn’t have wheels so it made it very awkward to carry when it was full. On my last dive trip the strap broke when we arrived at our destination so I decided to get myself one of these Aropec Heavy Duty Roller Duffle Bags instead, I only with I had got one sooner as its the best bag I have ever used,

It measures at 75 x 45 x 35 cm

Why not get yourself one of these bags and as a special treat for reading our blog we will give you 10% OFF just use discount code BLOGBAG10 at the checkout, Dicount code expires 31/06/2015